De Akkers () is the most southwestern subway station of the

Rotterdam Metro The Rotterdam Metro () is a rapid transit system operated in Rotterdam, Netherlands and surrounding municipalities by RET. The first line, called ''Noord – Zuidlijn'' (North – South line) opened in 1968 and ran from Centraal Station to Zu ...

and is located in the Dutch city of

Spijkenisse Spijkenisse () is a large town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. Following an administrative reform in 2015, it is part of the List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Nissewaard, and ha ...

. The station, with one island platform, opened on 25 April 1985 as a terminus of the North-South Line (also formerly called Erasmus line), nowadays line D. Since the extension of the East-West Line (Caland line) opened on 4 November 2002, the station also serves as terminus of that line. The station is named for the adjacent neighbourhood and is located on top of its shopping mall.

Whale tail sculpture

In 2002, two whale sculptures, designed by architect and named ''Walvisstaarten'' (Dutch for ''Whale's tails'') were installed at the end of the sidings beyond the station. The sculptures were made of reinforced

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

Train crash

Gestrande metro Spijkenisse Walvisstaart 3-11-2020

Just after midnight on 2 November 2020, a train empty of passengers, operated by RET, on the

crashed through the

buffer stop A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent Railroad car, railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of Track (rail transport), track. The design of the buffer stop is dependen ...

at the end of the sidings beyond the station. The sidings are built on a viaduct projecting out over the canal. The lead car of the train came to a partial rest on a high whale sculpture erected in front of the sidings, preventing the train from falling over the edge and into the canal below. Only the driver was on board when the crash happened and he freed himself without injury. He was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. Following the crash, the creator of the sculpture, Maarten Struijs, stated he was surprised the statue was able to hold the weight of the train, and stated that "it does look rather poetic." He said the statue was never meant to be an extra safety measure for the trains. Since the crash, these sculptures have been referred to in some media with the name ''Saved by a Whale's Tail.''

References

External links

*Joey Bremer
Photographs
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{Railway accidents in the Netherlands Rotterdam Metro stations Nissewaard Railway stations in the Netherlands opened in 1985

Whale tail sculpture

Train crash

See also

References

External links